PlayPenn Announces Resident Playwright Selections and Reimagined Citywide Conference

PlayPenn, a national new play development center based in Philadelphia, proudly announces the 2025 New Play Development Conference, taking place from July 5th to July 20th, 2025.

For nearly two decades, PlayPenn has been a cornerstone of new play development, providing a vital platform for playwrights to create, collaborate and connect.

This year, the conference extends its reach beyond a single location to bring new plays into communities across four Philadelphia County districts, thanks to a groundbreaking collaboration with InterAct Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Power Street Theatre, Theatre in the X, and the Wilma Theater. The collaboration  aims to foster greater sustainability in the arts by sharing resources and expanding audiences.

"As giants in the new play development field like Sundance Theater Lab, The Lark and the Humana Festival have disappeared, the need for PlayPenn’s work has never been more urgent,” said Che’Rae Adams, PlayPenn Artistic Director. “For nearly two decades, our New Play Development Conference has been a vital incubator for playwrights, ensuring that bold new voices continue to shape the future of theater. By expanding our conference citywide and forging meaningful artistic partnerships, we are deepening our commitment to fostering new voices and ensuring that the future of theatre is representative, sustainable and inclusive. Philadelphia should take great pride in being home to one of the few institutions still championing this work - supporting playwrights, enriching audiences and strengthening the national theatrical landscape."

Three Plays Selected for Development

After reviewing nearly 200 play submissions across the Mid-Atlantic region, PlayPenn is thrilled to announce the Resident Playwright selections  for the 2025 New Play Development Conference. Three playwrights are in residence for two weeks with each of their outstanding works undergoing intensive rehearsal, culminating in two staged public readings. Each play will be paired with one of PlayPenn’s partner theaters and their artistic teams, providing invaluable guidance, feedback and resources.

• Ama. Egg. Oyá. by Lori Felipe-Barkin – A powerful exploration of infertility, motherhood and the fierce determination to have a child, blending Santería, modern-day Miami and Cuban rhythms. (Partner Theatre: Power Street Theatre)

• Hand Foot Hand by L M Feldman – An intimate and raw portrait of three aging aerialists navigating love, loss, and the uncertainty of mid-career artistry. (Partner Theatre: The Wilma Theater)

• Harlem Canary/Tokyo Crow by Andrew Saito – A satirical comedy about WWII’s “Negro Propaganda Operations”, where captured African American POWs were forced to record radio plays comparing racial freedoms in Japan and the U.S. (Partner Theatre: Theatre in the X)

  
  

In addition to the selected plays, PlayPenn is proud to recognize seven finalists. While these plays will not receive full development as part of the Conference, their selection is a testament to their outstanding merit and the strength of their storytelling:

• 1898 or How Sugar Conquered The Enchantment by Nelson Diaz-Marcano

• The Ancestry Dot Com Play by Alyssa Haddad-Chin

• Ceremony by Dave Ebersole

• Greetings From The Red Planet by Natalie Valentine

• Novios by Arturo Luíz Soria

• The Single Rain Drop by Zachariah Ezer

• X#*! YOU VERY MUCH, MOM by Đavid Lee Huỳnh

  
  

For more information on the 2025 PlayPenn New Play Development Conference, including Foundry First Spark Readings, the Young Playwright reading and more visit www.playpenn.org/2025-conference.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Lindsay Doyle

Cadence Public Relations215.275.6541lindsay@cadencepublicrelations.com

ABOUT PLAYPENN

Founded in 2004, PlayPenn is a nationally recognized leader in new play development, dedicated to nurturing bold theatrical voices and advancing theater as a vital form of storytelling. Through its annual New Play Development Conference, educational programs and artist residencies, PlayPenn provides playwrights with the resources, collaboration and support needed to bring groundbreaking new work to life.

To date, PlayPenn has developed over 160 plays, many of which have gone on to more than 600 professional productions at esteemed theaters worldwide, including the National Theatre (London), National Theatre of Israel, English Theatre Berlin, Roundabout Theatre, Lincoln Center, Atlantic Theater, Second Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center, South Coast Rep, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Azuka Theatre, and many more.

Plays and playwrights supported by PlayPenn have earned some of the most prestigious honors in theater, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony Award, Obie Award, MacArthur Fellowship “Genius” Grant, Guggenheim Fellowships, Lilly Award for Playwriting, Pew Fellowship, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and multiple Barrymore Awards for Best New Play.